Local wildlife artist captures the moment
Local wildlife artist ‘captures the moment’
By Tyler Frantz
More than three decades ago, young Dave Kintzel was a budding wildlife artist with loads of promise and potential. In fact, his talent was already noticeable in grade school, when his elementary art teacher took special interest in his abilities, excusing him from class to help make decorations for the school around the holidays.
Upon reaching adolescence, Kintzel’s skilled drawings shifted from youthful depictions of cowboys and horses to hunting scenes and wildlife species- a reflection of his time spent in the outdoors with his father. By early adulthood, Kintzel established himself as brilliant pen and ink sketch artist, juggling his full-time carpentry job with side work specializing in his favorite subject- whitetails.
At age 25, he landed a gig drawing for the newly established Deer & Deer Hunting magazine; he illustrated some of Joe Kosack’s Lebanon Daily News Outdoors columns, and even contracted for six years as a contributing artist for Pennsylvania Game News magazine.
This ultimately led to a once-in-a-lifetime home visit in 1983 at the Millersburg residence of his all-time favorite artist, the legendary Ned Smith.
“I spent a whole day with Ned and his wife, Marie,” Kintzel said fondly of the experience. “In my opinion, he was just the best- so successful and so talented. I wanted to pick his brain, so I called him and he invited me to drive up to his home and meet with him.” “As I walked into his house, he was actually working on “A Little Bit Cautious,” his famous painting of the black bear avoiding a porcupine. It was all set up on the easel, and this giant original of “The Old Orchard Buck” was drying on the mantle above the fireplace. It was pretty surreal,” Kintzel recalled.
“I brought along some of my pen and ink drawings and one of my oil paintings to get some feedback,” Kintzel explained. “Ned took out one of those magnifying tools a jeweler would use to inspect a fine diamond and carefully scrutinized my work.” “Your pen and ink style is unique; don’t change it,” Smith told Kintzel. “Your oil painting still needs some work, but you’ve got what it takes.”
The vote of confidence from the seasoned veteran was all it took for Kintzel, then in his twenties, to reaffirm his beliefs that maybe he could “run with the big dogs” if he really worked at it.
But life soon changed for Kintzel, as it often does. Two young boys came along, as well as a new house that needed work. Kintzel also switched jobs, opting for a steady-income career with Hershey Corporation. It paid the bills, but his artwork was cast aside for many years. That is until just recently. “You know, when you’re in your twenties, you think you’ll live forever,” Kintzel explained. “In your thirties and forties, you’re focused on what’s coming next. Then in your fifties, you look back at the past ten years and think, boy that went by so quickly. Now that I’m in my sixties, I figured it’s finally time to do what I‘ve always wanted to do. Art is what I love, so it was time to make a go at it.”
With support and encouragement from his partner Sheila, Kintzel retired from Hershey last year and returned to pursuing wildlife artistry. He started small at first, painting a Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Elk and Great-horned Owl, but has recently hit it hard, adding several other species to his impressive collection. Since taking up the brush again, Kintzel has turned out over a dozen original oil paintings, including a gorgeous drop-tined Whitetail, Gray Squirrel, Whitetail fawn, Goldfinch, Blue Jay, Evening Grossbeak, Red Fox, Bluebird, a Whitetail buck making a scrape, a unique Black Bear and Skunk encounter, and a pair of Bald Eagles soaring over Sweet Arrow Lake.
He has a gifted knack for capturing the moment in these wildlife scenes, most of which just pop into his head at random. Aside from the Eagle painting, titled “Majestic Flight,” which required accuracy of location, he does not generally paint from photographs, but rather sketches out his ideas and adds habitat details from in-the-field observations.
“For “The Licking Branch” piece, I actually got the idea when I was out doing some preseason scouting and came across a fresh scrape. I imagined the buck that made the scrape and wanted to reproduce that scenario in a painting,” Kintzel said. 
His latest scene of a Red Fox surveying an old homestead from a snow-covered log came from an encounter during this year’s rifle deer season, when a fox ran past his stand, inspiring him to paint the bushy-tailed canine. Kintzel says he likes to alternate between birds and mammals to break up the routine and wouldn’t mind painting at least one of every bird species in Pennsylvania at some point.
Several of his originals have already sold, but many still remain, while high quality reproductions are readily available in giclee on canvas. Kintzel builds his own canvas mounts and personally frames all artwork before it leaves the door.
The best way to make inquiries about his work is to private message him on facebook via ‘David Kintzel’ or email sludwig95@comcast.net.
“I’m not looking to get rich or famous,” Kintzel said. “I just want to paint. If someone enjoys my work, great! I’d love to make my artwork part of their home. I’m thankful for people showing an interest, and I strive to make them feel like they are there in that moment. Nature is a beautiful thing, and I hope to do it justice.” Considering Kintzel’s favorite artist died of a heart attack at age 65, he decided there was no better time than now to follow Ned Smith’s timeless advice.
“There were so many paintings left in that man that he never got to do,” Kintzel said of Smith. “What he taught me has stuck with me to this day. I’m not getting any younger, so if I feel inspired to paint something, I’m going to paint it.”
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